Teacher Sold Pictures--McMartin Boy

The first evidence of pornography for profit in the McMartin Pre-School molestation case surfaced Thursday when a 9-year-old boy testified that he saw a teacher receive money for movies of naked pupils.

The testimony came as a prosecutor questioned a young witness identified only as John Doe No. 12, a former McMartin school student and the fifth child witness to testify against seven former teachers charged with molesting 41 of their pupils between 1978 and 1984.

In his first day on the stand in the preliminary hearing, the fourth-grader, who attended the preschool between 1977 and 1978, told Deputy Dist. Atty. Christine Johnston that he was sexually molested and sodomized by defendant Raymond Buckey, 26--once while tied naked to a school table.

Taken to House

He said he and other students were taken by Buckey to a green house where they were met by three strangers--a man and two women.

“Was anything . . . done at this house?” Johnston asked.

“We saw films of us naked,” the boy replied.

“Did you see Ray with money?” the prosecutor asked.

“Ray would give his friend the film, then the friend would give Ray some money,” he replied.

It was the first time during the 7-month-old preliminary hearing that any witness has testified about money being exchanged for child pornography.

Had Been Indicated

When the defendants were indicted by the county grand jury one year ago, prosecutors stated in court documents that they suspected that the McMartin school was a front for a vast child pornography ring.

Previous child witnesses said teachers took pictures of them naked, but no such photographs have been found.

As have previous child witnesses, the 9-year-old boy said he played “naked games” at the school, including “horsie,” when he rode around on Raymond Buckey’s back; and “lookout,” when he would sit in the playground atop a slide and warn Raymond Buckey if a parent approached.

The boy said pictures were taken when the children played the naked games. He said while Raymond Buckey sexually molested him, school founder Virginia McMartin, Buckey’s grandmother, looked on, as did teachers Babette Spitler, 36, and Betty Raidor, 65, he said.

Other Defendants

Other defendants include Mrs. McMartin’s daughter Peggy McMartin Buckey, granddaughter Peggy Ann Buckey and teacher Mary Ann Jackson, 56.

During “cowboys and Indians” games, the child said, Buckey, 26, tied him to a school table with a rope.

“When he caught us, he’d tie us up to a table leg,” the boy said.

“What happened after he tied you up?” Johnston asked.

“He touched us,” the boy replied.

Recounts Mutilation

In his hour of direct examination, the boy also said he was forced to orally copulate Raymond Buckey and that Buckey slaughtered a rabbit, mutilated turtles and once wielded a gun in the schoolyard to threaten students into silence.

“He stabbed the turtle with a knife. Another time he cut the shell off” another turtle, the boy said.

He said the man at the green house threw a hamster against the wall, killing it.